About

In 2010, my family and friends planted a peculiarly Christian community within the urban downtown of LaPorte, Indiana. We maintain a community center that feed 1,300+ people each month, a community meal that breaks bread with over 100 people each week, and other community initiatives that seek to be a tangible representation of the Kingdom of God here on this earth. My roles consist primarily of teaching and casting vision. The people, vision, and neighbors of State Street Community Church matter a great deal to me.

My theology combines a broad historical and philosophical narrative. My inklings lean just as much Wesleyan as they do Anabaptist, yet I appreciate much of what the high church [Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Episcopal] bring to the ecumenical table. I own most books by Stanley Hauerwas, Walter Brueggemann, and David Bentley Hart. I've even read most of them.

I've quoted N.T. Wright in sermons more than he'd be comfortable knowing. I think Mirsoslav Volf, Eugene Peterson, Scot McKnight and Kallistos Ware are not only brilliant but pastoral in their writing. As an arm-chair pastor-theologian, they've set a great example of what helpful theological engagement should look like.

I'm grateful for the education I received throughout my life. This includes, but is not limited to, the professors at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana where I received two bachelor degrees (B.A. in Christian Ministry & B.A. in Biblical Literature) and one graduate degree (M.Min.) After debt accrued from achieving these degrees is paid off, more post-graduate education will hopefully be in my future.

Music is vitally important to sustaining the unique Nate Loucks self. Artists like Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan are in regular listening competition with Sufjan Stevens, Typhoon, Sleeping at Last, and the Antlers in my headphones. Some days I wish I was born 50 years earlier, but then I listen to a Josh Ritter record and I'm grateful that I exist in this place in this time in this era. Music moves me. This song often makes me cry.

In 2013, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called Graves' Disease. It's a disease that two percent of the population have, but it mostly happens to women [70-80 percent more likely in women.] That's always a confidence-boosting statistic. I've also had the lower lobe of my right lung removed which left me with a pretty gnarly scar and something to write about in my "about" section.